Mid-career change; CPA/MBA/MAcc salary for Big 4?

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Comments (3)

Julia
in Granby, Connecticut

42 months ago

I've been working part-time teaching and doing a little consulting while I raised my family - and in the meantime added an MAcc and a CPA to my credentials. I was a management consultant in my previous life :-) and have my MBA.

I'm considering going back to internal consulting/project management and know the salaries I can expect there given that I've been out of industry for several years. What are starting salaries like for newly minted CPAs with an MAcc and an MBA but no accounting work experience for Big 4?

The job market for accounting is hot mostly for recent grads who are CPA candidates. Large accounting firms want fresh graduates who they can work excessively. Corporations want lower cost non-CPA employees for their finance staffs. However, smaller local accounting practices have difficulty filling staff accounting jobs. Most of these entities focus on tax, but also handle general accounting. The work isn’t too difficult and you maximize your income with an ability to prepare tax returns under supervision. If you don’t have any work history in tax preparation, local accounting practices will hire people with no experience as long as they have some proven skills.

You can develop tax expertise by studying for the Enrolled Agent exam. Passing the EA exam is much easier than the CPA exam. However, you need a course that focuses on more tax subjects than CPA study. Take the course at fastforwardacademy.com/enrolled-agent-exam-prep.htm and you'll have all the knowledge needed for preparing every type of tax return. A small accounting practice will then train you with software and file documentation procedures.

I’ve advised several accountants to take this avenue in the past three years – including some CPAs who thought they would not like tax jobs. They all ended up enjoying the work at a smaller operation where they had contact with a multitude of interesting clients… despite some long workdays for about six week per year.